How Environmental Factors Fuel Male Infertility - Prof Oluyemi Akinloye

Nigeria and other countries of the world have continued to witness a sharp rise in male infertility. Unfortunately in some cases, their causes are not known. A Professor of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, CMUL, Prof Oluyemi Akinloye says several men can not achieve their desire to impregnate their female partners due to reasons beyond their control.

“Infertility is a disease of the reproductive system, defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse," He said. Akinloye linked involuntary male infertility to hormonal disturbances, environmental factors such as diet and toxic elements, genetic aberrations, improper medical waste disposal by healthcare workers, exposure to environmental pollutants, human activities like occupational factors and climate change. The Professor of Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis while presenting his Inaugural Lecture entitled: “The Nigerian Milieu and Genetic Diversity: The Case for Personalised Medicine”, said despite these multi faceted factors, male infertility in Nigeria has suffered significant neglect in reproductive health. Noting that too much attention was being paid to female infertility factors, than that of their male counterparts, he said: "In Nigeria, the male factor contribution to infertility is estimated to be about 54 per cent, based on semen analysis and globally, the male contribution to infertility among couples has been estimated to be about 33 per cent.” 

Akinloye who accused the scientific and medical communities of paying more attention to female factors than that of their male counterpart, identified one of the factors that have contributed significantly to low sperm count and other abnormalities as exposure to heavy metals or toxic elements. “Two of such metals are cadmium and lead and they are in the Nigerian environment. In Nigeria, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal or oil accounts for their gross contamination of food chain and environments," he stated.

He affirmed that studies have shown that half of the cases of human male infertility of unknown causes may be attributable to various environmental and occupational exposures. He maintained that environmental discharge of cadmium due to use of petroleum products in addition to exposure to cadmium via contaminated food or paper, cosmetic remedies put many Nigerians at high risk of cadmium. “Cigarette smoking is also contributing significantly to Cadmium environmental pollution,” he added. He further called for strict implementation of law prohibiting smoking in public places adding that unwilling exposure to second -hand smoke is high in Nigeria and high level of cadmium had been reported as the possible cause of azoospermia, (complete absence of sperm in the ejaculate) in smokers. Continuing, he lamented the effect of lead on the reproductive health of the population, particularly pregnant women where it has been found to cause miscarriage, prematurity, low birth weight and problems with development during childhood. Akinloye said concentration of lead in blood is associated with a decrease in sperm count, sperm volume, sperm motility and morphological alterations.

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Malaria Outbreak: 382 Hospitalised, 48 Die In Sokoto

An outbreak of malaria has claimed no fewer than 48 lives in the Gandu area of Sokoto North Local Government of Sokoto State in the last one month. The Officer in Charge of Kofar Kade Clinic, Mrs Rabi Ahmed-Gandi, disclosed this in Sokoto on Friday when she received the second consignment of free anti-malarial drugs from the State Government. She said: “These deaths were recorded out of the 382 patients who were hospitalised in the hospital during the period under review. The problem had hitherto reached an epidemic level, although it has subsided now.” She attributed the problem to the contamination of the environment sequel to the prevalence of toxic refuse heaps. Ahmed commended the state government for its swift intervention, saying that it has helped to stabilise the ugly situation. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Balarabe Kakale, said that the state government had provided essential drugs and medicament to the area. Kakale further said that health personnel have also been dispatched to the affected area to augment the staffers at the clinic.

He said: “The Ministry has also commenced a fumigation exercise against mosquitoes. In the same vein, sanitary inspectors have been deployed to the affected areas to help in the clean up. They are also conducting social mobilization campaigns on the need for the residents to ensure environmental and personal hygiene. We are also partnering with the Ministry of Environment and the State Environmental Protection Agency, to team up and evacuate the killer-heaps of refuse.”

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Recurrent Miscarriages Could Be Genetical

Recurrent miscarriages in the first three months of pregnancy in some women could be a result of genetic mutation. This is the findings of a new study published in the ‘Royal Society Journal Open Biology’. The Royal Society Journal Open Biology reported that mutations in the FOXD1 gene could be responsible for half of miscarriages while the other half could be tied to infections, hormonal balance or immune problems. Miscarriage, also known as spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the natural death of an embryo or foetus before it is able to survive independently.
Some use the cut-off of 20 weeks of gestation after which foetal death is known as a stillbirth. The most common symptoms of a miscarriage is vaginal bleeding with or without pain. However, recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is the occurrence of two or more pregnancy losses in the initial 13 weeks of gestation and affects one or two in every 100 pregnancies. According to the study, the mutation of FOXD1 was first discovered in laboratory mice.
Five hundred and fifty women, who had been affected by RSA, were examined to find out if they had mutations of the same gene. Two hundred and seventy-one non- RSA patients were used as control for comparative analysis.
The researchers discovered that a majority of women with RSA possessed the gene mutation of FOXD1. However, findings from the control group led scientists to believe that the gene could have protective abilities when in its normal state:
“Our results have also shown that FOXD1 is possibly a new molecular actor modulating pregnancy maintenance, with mutations associated with ER in mice and RSA in humans".
 Human fertility, like most biological processes in mammals, is assumed to be the result of subtle interaction of gene variants located in different genomic regions, having a quantitative effect and thus called QTL for quantitative trait loci. The Medical Daily reported that FOXD1 isn’t the first gene linked to early pregnancy loss. The MTHFR gene is an enzyme that is involved in amino acid metabolism in the body.
Common mutations in this gene can affect how a person’s body processes homocysteine, an amino acid found in the blood. Women with MTHFR gene mutations are more likely to have elevated levels of homocysteine — a potential risk factor for miscarriages. These mutations can also lead to a decreased ability to metabolize folic acid and other B vitamins.

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Pregnancy: Red Wine Can Boost Female Fertility

A glass of red wine a day could help women who are struggling to get pregnant, experts claim.A chemical compound found in the popular tipple can combat a major cause of female infertility, a new research has revealed.Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is estimated to affect one in five women, but that number could be much higher as almost half of sufferers show no symptoms of the condition.
It causes a hormone imbalance, with the body producing too much testosterone – the male sex hormone which can prevent pregnancy.
But now, researchers in the United States and Poland believe resveratrol – a natural compound in the skin of grapes used to make red wine – can reverse the damaging hormone imbalance.
It adds to past studies that show the compound can help ward off heart disease and some cancers.
Dr Antoni Duleba, lead researcher from the University of California, San Diego, said: “Our study is the first clinical trial to find resveratrol significantly lowers PCOS patients’ levels of testosterone.
“This nutritional supplement can help moderate the hormone imbalance that is one of the central features of PCOS.”

What is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition – a leading cause of infertility in women.
The three main features of the condition are:

1. Irregular periods – which means your ovaries do not regularly release eggs
2. Excess androgen – high levels of “male” hormones in the body, which can cause physical symptoms such as excess facial or body hair
3. Polycystic ovaries – enlarged ovaries that contain fluid-filled sacs around the eggs

If you have at least two of these features, it is likely you will be diagnosed with PCOS.
Signs and symptoms include:

• irregular or no periods at all
• difficulty getting pregnant
• excessive hair growth, often on the face, chest and back
• weight gain
• oily skin or acne
• hair loss or thinning hair on the head

Across the world, PCOS is one of the most common causes of infertility in women, the report, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, noted.
Women suffering PCOS can also suffer irregular periods, weight gain, acne and excess hair growth on the face and body, as well as chronic conditions including diabetes.
Researchers believe it is resveratrol’s anti-inflammatory properties that help tilt the hormone imbalance back to optimum levels for conception.
They tested 30 women with PCOS – giving half a placebo, while the other half took a resveratrol compound once a day for three months.
Blood samples were examined at regular intervals to monitor each woman’s hormone levels.
The researchers noted those women taking resveratrol showed falling levels of testosterone over the course of the trial.
On average testosterone levels in this group of women fell by 23.1 per cent.
That is compared to a 2.9 per cent fall in testosterone among those women taking the placebo.
Dr Duleba said: “The findings suggest resveratrol can improve the body’s ability to use insulin and potentially lower the risk of developing diabetes.
“The supplement may be able to help reduce the risk of metabolic problems common in women with PCOS.”
He said his team also noted added benefits in the fall of other harmful hormones, and the body’s ability to control insulin in the resveratrol group, that was not seen in the women taking placebo.

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High-Stress Jobs Lead To Early Death

Researchers have raised the alarm over the danger posed to employees engaged in high-stress jobs, saying the job might be killing them. A new study has found evidence to back up what many disgruntled employees have been saying all along – your job just might be killing you.
Stress is defined as an organism’s total response to environmental demands or pressures. Stress in humans results from interactions between persons and their environment that are perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening their well-being.
Analyzing more than 2,300 people during a seven-year period, the researchers found that employees in high-stress positions who have little decision-making freedom at work were more likely to die young.
Along with this, they said these people often have a higher body mass index, BMI, than employees who have more control at work, as they may eat more, smoke, or engage in other behaviours to cope with the demands of the job.
T he findings suggest that having a higher degree of discretion in your job could help to manage work-related stress, contributing to a longer and healthier life. In the study from Indiana University Kelley School of Business, researchers sampled 2,363 Wisconsin residents in their 60s over a seven-year period. Data were derived from the Wisconsin Longitudinal study, in which more than 10,000 people were interviewed at various intervals over the course of their lives, from 1957 to 2011.
The researchers found troubling trends among employees in stressful jobs: 26 per cent of deaths occurred in people with front line service jobs, while 32 per cent of deaths were among people in manufacturing jobs, who reported high demands and low control at work.
Overall, people in lowcontrol, high-demand jobs showed a 15.4 per cent increase in the likelihood of death compared with those in low demand jobs. But, those with highcontrol at work were linked to a 34 per cent decrease in the likelihood of death, compared with.

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Antibiotics Linked To Hospital Bed Infection

Scientists have raised the alarm over the spread of hospital bed infection, saying when a hospital patient is taking antibiotics, the next person to use the same bed may face an elevated risk of infection with the dangerous germ Clostridium difficile.
To this end, doctors have suggested the need to improve sterilisation procedures in hospitals, a measure to reduce the spread of infections in hospital environment.
This is the finding of a new report published in the journal ‘JAMA Internal Medicine’.
According to a Professor of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, Dr. Marc Siegel, “This underscores the idea that hospitals are not being sanitised enough or they can’t be sanitised enough.
There is an increased need for increased sterilisation procedures between patients.”  C. difficile, a bacterium that causes inflammation of the colon and causes life-threatening diarrhoea, is found in some hospitals around the world.
Scientists have known that antibiotic use can contribute to the germ’s spread, but a new report has shown that it is not just the patient taking the medication who’s at risk. According to findings in the study, because the germ spores can persist, patients later assigned to the same hospital bed may have increased risk of getting C. difficile.
Lead Researcher, Dr. Daniel Freedberg, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York City, said: “This study provides evidence that there is a herd effect with antibiotics. “In other words, antibiotics have the potential to affect the health of people who don’t themselves receive antibiotics.”
According to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, C. difficile causes nearly half a million infections a year in the United States and 29,000 deaths. Older adults are most at risk. In this study, researchers found that if the previous patient in the hospital bed was given antibiotics (not for C. difficile), the odds of C. difficile infection in the next patient were nearly one per cent, compared with less than half of one per cent if no antibiotics were given, the webMD reported.
“Antibiotics encourage the spread of C. difficile from patients who asymptomatically carry C. difficile to patients who are C. difficile-free, even if the C. difficile-free patients do not receive any antibiotics,” Freedberg said.

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